The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).
After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.
Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).
MY CHECK-IN
What am I working on this week?
My goal for the coming week is to have a short story about spirit photography finished by Christmas and the next instalment of What Writers Ought to Know About Die Hard ready for the New Year, but they are very low-key target. Mostly, I plan on using the coming week to refill the well a little when it comes to creative work. I’ve got a small stack of books to read, and a small pile of movies to watch, and a notebook just waiting for the annotations to begin.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I’ve been reading Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love and its an incredible primer on how to build a career based in on creative industries, without overtly being focused on it. It may well be added to the list of recommended reading I suggest every writer do before the start out.
I’ll admit there’s nothing revolutionary going on in the book, but it gives language and a framework to what can be a hard thing to explain to newer writers: the acquisition of career capital through diligent, good work that can eventually be transformed into the kind of career freedom that draws people to the arts. Teaching writing frequently means people are trying to skip to the latter, dreaming of the first book becoming a best-seller, and Newport traces case-study after case-study through various industries that shows why this isn’t a viable approach.
What part of my project an I avoiding?
It’s been eighteen months since the last Die Hard instalment here on the blog, so I’ve been avoiding that post like the plague for a very long time. Trying to remember that I don’t have to write all of it at the same time, and it’s perfectly viable to just take one bite of the elephant, but slow progress is not my jam when it comes to blogging.
It doesn’t help that the second half of the second act, which is where we’re up to, is probably the least interesting part of story structure and there’s not a lot of good resources for fleshing out how I talk about it.
I’ve ended up taking a short, unscheduled break from writing newsletters over the last fourteen days. Regular GenrePunk Ninja transmissions will resume
Like many of you, I have good weeks and bad weeks on the writing front. This week has been rocky, and if
Welcome to GenrePunk Ninja supplemental, where I occasionally post foundational essays written before I launched the GenrePunk Ninja newsletter, especially if they’re
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What am I working on this week?
Work on the commercial demo continues, along with debriefing for the year, and sorting out tax stuff. A bit of this week went to self-indulgence playing a bit more Netrunner than I would normally, and similarly this week I’m spending a day with my partner hanging around town and watching movies. CANNOT WAIT.
Maggie asked what sorts of stuff I’m working through in the debrief – it’s largely a brain dump of what’s circling my head at the moment, and trying to simplify as much as possible and focus on what matters. So it’s reorganising my work space to focus on what matters. Getting rid of all of the digital cruft I’ve built up in Google Drive, in Evernote, in Omnifocus and Dropbox, and pushing attention towards a bunch of resources I’ve previously paid for but not gotten the benefit from. I’ve got around 500 books in a spreadsheet flagged for reading, but I’m never going to read that many. So I’ve started the onerous process of paring that list down to what matters now. (Peter: Cal Newport’s book is on that list after Epona Schweer recommended it, so I might steer towards it for reading over the break!)
I’ve especially been drilling down to a set of key metrics on what matters, so I can see clearly whether I’m moving the needle where it matters.
What’s inspiring me this week?
The girl and I have been continuing to watch The Expanse, which just continues to get better and better. We’re super-chuffed with the character of Amos, who is sex-positive, pragmatic, and occupies a role in the group that otherwise might have been written sociopathic or generically gritty and hard-edged. I’m so impressed with the deftness that this show has with revealing character facets over time.
Feedback has been really filling my sails, too – I got very positive technical feedback from both my regular voice coaches at the end of this year on the progress we’ve made, and they also mentioned my willingness to stick at it, which in some ways mattered more to me. And collaborating with talented people on keen projects always excites me!
Unfortunately the Witcher novels I’ve been reading have now veered into fairly transparent sexism, so I’m not likely to read beyond the current novel, at least without a break to see if I just need a palate cleanser.
What part of my project am I avoiding?
The open loops on life stuff, sadly. Still need to get this done.
I loved The Expanse! It’s such a great series. Good luck with the commercial demo, debriefing and tax stuff!
Thanks so much for the debrief run-down. Fascinating! And now I *really* need to find a way to watch The Expanse. It sounds fantastic! Congrats on the feedback! And I hear you on the determination front. That more than anything seems to be a major requirement for any artist in any field!
Peter: Would love to hear how the consuming goes. Would you be willing to share your list of stuff on the other side of chewing through it?
I’ll probably blog about it as I run through the list, now that reading things and thinking about them has become work again 🙂
Good luck on the short story, the post and refilling the creative well! That book sounds great too. I’ll have to check it out 🙂
My Sunday Circle is over here.
Best of luck on wrapping up your edits, Sophie! You can do it!!! 😀
@Peter: Nothing like a fresh notebook to get the thoughts flowing. Enjoy the refill time!
My (not late!) Sunday Circle is here.
Filling up the creative well sounds like a great idea, Peter. The hardest part is choosing what to read/watch. I had friends rave about Stranger Things but I’m 3 episodes in & I must admit I’m finding it a bit ordinary.
Kevin, congrats on the positive feedback. Always good to hear from mentors/coaches and peers that you’re doing well.
Here’s my Sunday Circle.
Hi folks
Peter, that Cal Newport book looks awesome. I’ve a feeling there’s a related TED talk somewhere. I’ll see if I can find it.
Kevin, I like your approach to metrics. Very outcome focused. I feel I’m ready to move there, now the building blocks are in place.
Sophie, It sounds like you have a full plate but I hear you on ticking off that final revision for The Rabbits. You’ve got this!
Ree, good luck with those deadlines and hope the chapter summaries help.
What am I working on this week?
Folks, I am over the hump. I have 50 solid pages I can live with and now it’s on to adapting my earlier full draft to a relationship-focused narrative with GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict) foremost. Cannot tell you how much work went into this, but it’s all true about the importance of deliberate practice and expert feedback. I feel I’ve stepped up a level.
What’s inspiring me this week?
Finished The Crown and I’m gutted. Do not watch A Royal Night Out after seeing The Crown. The lack of attention to detail such as accents and protocols ruins what would otherwise be harmless fluff. Otherwise, I caught up with a number of authors from the UK and Ireland in Dublin yesterday as the Irish RNA (romantic novelists) chapter combined a Christmas party with the Kate Nash Literary Agency. Always good to talk shop and learn realistic expectations of advances, contracts and publisher requirements.
What part of my project am I avoiding?
Reviewing what I’ve written. I am BANNED, ok, BANNED from going over those first 50 pages until the rest of the rewrite is done. In the words of Elizabeth Gilbert, for the time being they are “good enough”. Otherwise, it’s cramming in what I can with Christmas and school holidays barrelling down.
The only TED stuff I could find was this talk that’s much more focused on his first book. .
Ooh, thanks. I’m sure there was a TED talk on a related subject but I think I had Daniel Coyle in mind with his Talent Code (which I have as an audio book).